“When women aren’t at the table, they’re on the menu,” says Planned Parenthood president
By Deirdre Fulton and Andrea Germanos, staff writers for Common Dreams. Published 5-5-2017
Photo: Screenshot Fox News
With House Republicans having voted to pass the “astonishingly evil” American Healthcare Act (AHCA), the Senate GOP has assembled a group to craft that chamber’s version of the bill known as Trumpcare—and its made up of all men.
While Trumpcare would take health insurance away from tens of millions of Americans and raises costs for people nationwide, it has become clear that the Republican healthcare bill passed in the U.S. House Thursday is nothing less than what one advocacy group explicitly called “a declaration of war on women.”
From eliminating the requirement that all healthcare plans cover maternity care; to allowing insurers to once again charge people more for “pre-existing conditions” including sexual assault and postpartum depression; to defunding Planned Parenthood; to further restricting abortion care, “Trump’s plan is dangerous for women’s health and our ability to make decisions about our futures and our families,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“This government is very deliberately laying the groundwork for conditions that will harm women—in fact, everyone who is not rich, white, and male,” said Janette Robinson-Flint, executive director of Black Women for Wellness. “Shame on those selfish men.”
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, called it “the worst bill for women’s health in a generation.”
Now, adding insult to injury, sources report Friday that the senators who are working on their chamber’s version of the legislation are a bunch of…men. Almost all white men, at that.
According to Dylan Scott of Vox and other reporters, the 13 senators named to the healthcare bill working group are:
- Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
- Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
- Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
- Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.)
- John Thune (R-S.D.)
- Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
- Mike Lee (R-Utah)
- Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
- Cory Gardner (R-Colo.)
- John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
- John Cornyn (R-Texas)
- Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
The news brought further outcry. Richards, for her part, tweeted, “When women aren’t at the table, we’re on the menu.”
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) accused his colleagues of being “gutless”:
Convening a group of men behind closed doors to scheme how to make care worse for women is as gutless as it gets, @SenateGOP https://t.co/lS3o3wma40
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) May 5, 2017
Others piled on:
9/10 are white
10/10 are men
0/10 support reproductive healthThis should end well. https://t.co/mOYI7Zy5Lf
— Lauren Rankin (@laurenarankin) May 5, 2017
Three Johns, two Mikes, and no women. https://t.co/AOqVB6TKms
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) May 5, 2017
Again, there’s no reason for a group of legislators—ALL of whom are men—to tell women what they should and should not do with their bodies. https://t.co/Q2f6g8FyFr
— Ralph Northam (@RalphNortham) May 5, 2017
@HelenKennedy @dylanlscott Thank goodness! I was so afraid there wouldn’t be any old white guys on the panel!
— Rose Justice (@RMBJustice) May 5, 2017
It matters to have women at the table—and it matters when they aren’t. https://t.co/hRTkD3m9r1
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) May 5, 2017
I guess Trumpcare is only going to be for dudes https://t.co/98DlsXt4kZ
— Stephanie Mencimer (@smencimer) May 5, 2017
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